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FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD
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The University of Alberta respectfully acknowledges that it is located on Treaty 6 territory. 1
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Please note: This remains as placeholder text to be updated when an institutional territorial statement is finalized by the community. INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN - MAY 2016
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INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN
FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD MAY 2016 DRAFT
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4 Vision To inspire the human spirit through outstanding achievements in learning, discovery, and citizenship in a creative community, building one of the world’s great universities for the public good.
Mission Within a vibrant and supportive learning environment, the University of Alberta discovers, disseminates, and applies new knowledge for the benefit of society through teaching and learning, research and creative activity, community involvement, and partnerships. The University of Alberta gives a national and international voice to innovation in our province, taking a lead role in placing Canada at the global forefront.
Values The University of Alberta community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni rely on shared, deeply held values that guide behaviour and actions. These values are drawn from the principles on which the University of Alberta was founded in 1908 and reflect a dynamic, modern institution of higher learning, leading change nationally and internationally. Above all, we value intellectual integrity, freedom of inquiry and expression, and the equality and dignity of all persons as the foundation of ethical conduct in research, teaching, learning, and service. We value excellence in teaching, research, and creative activity that enriches learning experiences, advances knowledge, inspires engaged citizenship, and promotes the public good. We value learners at all stages of life and strive to provide an intellectually rewarding educational environment for all. We value academic freedom and institutional autonomy as fundamental to open inquiry and the pursuit of truth. We value diversity, inclusivity, and equity across and among our people, campuses, and disciplines. We value creativity and innovation from the genesis of ideas through to the dissemination of knowledge. We value the history and traditions of our university, celebrating with pride our people, achievements, and contributions to society.
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5 At the University of Alberta, we begin with people—people with ideas, talent, and purpose. Then, we act. We seek knowledge. We educate citizens. We ask the big questions. We push the limits of human understanding and knowledge. We engage with partners and communities close to home and around the world to lead positive change. We empower creative people to take risks and make imaginative leaps towards as yet undetermined futures. Why? The answer is simple: We are a public university acting for the public good. When we act, we provide meaningful educational experiences, promote innovative thinking, and develop original and compelling solutions that matter. When we lead, we tackle the most important local, national, and global challenges. When we excel, our work sparks and feeds widespread social, cultural, and economic benefits for others—indeed for the uplifting of the whole people. In For the Public Good—our institutional strategic plan for the coming decade—we embrace and affirm our vision to inspire the human spirit through outstanding achievements in learning, discovery, and citizenship in a creative community, building one of the world’s great universities for the public good. We forge ahead, motivated and supported by the University of Alberta’s 108-year history of leadership, achievement, and public service. Inspired by this plan, we will strive to achieve the following strategic goals:
BUILD a diverse, inclusive community of exceptional students, faculty, and staff from Alberta, Canada, and the world. EXPERIENCE diverse and rewarding learning opportunities that inspire us, nurture our talents, expand our knowledge and skills, and enable our success. EXCEL as individuals, and together, sustain a culture that fosters and champions distinction and distinctiveness in teaching, learning, research, and service. ENGAGE communities across campuses, city and region, province, nation, and the world to create reciprocal, mutually beneficial learning experiences, research projects, partnerships, and collaborations. SUSTAIN our people, our work, and the environment by attracting and stewarding the resources we need to deliver excellence to the benefit of all. In pursuit of these shared goals, the University of Alberta will deepen our dedication to excellence and extend our record of public leadership, playing a lead role in building a better province, a better Canada, and a better world.
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6 The University of Alberta is the province’s leading educator, generator of new ideas, and engine of social, cultural, and economic prosperity. Created by one of the first acts of the legislature, our university is one of the province’s most enduring and vital public institutions. As our name suggests, our history is bound to that of Alberta; the University of Alberta respectfully acknowledges that we stand on Treaty 6 Territory and the homelands of First Nations and Métis peoples. For more than a century, University of Alberta scholars have inspired graduates to become purposeful, active citizens and leaders. Our alumni—now numbering more than 260,000—have founded more than 70,000 organizations and businesses around the world, creating one and a half million jobs, nearly 400,000 in Alberta. Along with inspiring next-generation leaders, University of Alberta scholars have engaged in research and creative activities answering fundamental questions, building new industries and businesses, improving human health, fostering social, economic, and environmental change, and enhancing an innovative and vibrant arts and culture scene. They are world leaders in fields as diverse as energy, virology, literature, history, agricultural genomics and proteomics, and paleontology. Today, the University of Alberta is one of Canada’s leading research universities. Standing with pride among the world’s finest public institutions, the University of Alberta brings the ideas of Albertans to the world, and the world of ideas to Albertans.
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BUILD GOAL: Build a diverse, inclusive community of exceptional students, faculty, and staff from Alberta, Canada, and the world. Through the development of strategic recruitment, retention, and renewal plans, the University of Alberta will build a community of exceptional students, educators, scholars, researchers, and staff from Alberta, Canada, and the world. We will foster an inclusive culture in which people excel through exchange and collaboration, enriched by the diversity of individuals, groups, disciplines, perspectives, approaches, and questions that characterize our community. We will sustain this culture and community through rich educational and life experiences in a supportive learning environment. We will engage Indigenous students and nations to create programs and spaces that acknowledge the complexities of Canada’s history. We will celebrate the University of Alberta community and our achievements, enhancing our reputation in Alberta, across Canada, and around the world by defining, telling, and promoting our story.
To begin, we will attract outstanding students… 1. OBJECTIVE: Build a diverse, inclusive community of exceptional undergraduate and graduate students from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and the world. i. Strategy: Develop and implement an undergraduate and graduate recruitment strategy to attract top students from across the diverse communities in Alberta and Canada, leveraging our strengths as a comprehensive research-intensive, multi-campus university with options for francophone and rural liberal arts education. ii. Strategy: Develop and implement an undergraduate and graduate recruitment and retention strategy to attract Indigenous students from across Alberta and Canada. iii. Strategy: Optimize our international recruiting strategies to attract well-qualified international students from regions of strategic importance, and enhance services and programs to ensure their academic success and integration into the activities of the university. iv. Strategy: Ensure that qualified undergraduate and graduate students can attend the university through the provision of robust student financial support.
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…educated by exceptional faculty… 2. OBJECTIVE: Create a faculty renewal program that builds on the strengths of existing faculty and ensures the sustainable development of the University of Alberta’s talented, highly qualified, and diverse academy. i. Strategy: Attract and retain a diverse complement of faculty and post-doctoral fellows from around the world, with initial focus on increasing the proportion of assistant professors. ii. Strategy: Review, improve, and implement equity processes and procedures for recruiting and supporting faculty to ensure a balanced academy, representative of women, visible minorities, sexual and gender minorities, Indigenous peoples, and people with disabilities. iii. Strategy: Stabilize long-term investments in contract academic staff by offering career paths that include the possibility of continuing appointments based on demonstrated excellence in teaching. iv. Strategy: Support career transitions and encourage professors emeriti to continue to share their expertise and experience through active engagement with the university community.
…in collaboration with highly-skilled staff… 3. OBJECTIVE: Support ongoing recruitment and retention of a highly-skilled, diverse community of non-academic and administrative staff by enriching the University of Alberta’s working environment. i. Strategy: Create pathways for career mobility and progression of non-academic, administrative, and academic staff members, which include opportunities such as secondments, exchanges, and job shadows. ii. Strategy: Review, improve, and implement equity processes and procedures for recruiting and supporting staff to ensure that all categories of staff are representative of women, visible minorities, sexual and gender minorities, Indigenous peoples, and people with disabilities. iii. Strategy: Encourage, facilitate, and reward the sharing of best practices by non-academic, administrative, and academic staff across units, faculties, and campuses.
…at a university committed to respectful relations with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. 4. OBJECTIVE: Develop, in consultation and collaboration with internal and external community stakeholders, a thoughtful, respectful, meaningful, and sustainable response to the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. i. Strategy: Foster learning opportunities across our campuses that enable student, staff, and faculty participation in reconciliation. ii. Strategy: Build the Maskwa House of Learning as a place of understanding, welcome, and cultural connection, where Indigenous and non-Indigenous students together can grow and celebrate the unique and proud histories of Indigenous peoples, and where Indigenous students can access social, cultural, and spiritual supports that enable their academic success. iii. Strategy: Evaluate and measure the University of Alberta’s response to the TRC’s Calls to Action and ensure effectiveness on an ongoing basis.
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As a community, we recognize that our future is built on shared values… 5. OBJECTIVE: Build and strengthen trust, connection, and a sense of belonging among all members of the university community through a focus on shared values. i. Strategy: Support and enhance activities, initiatives, and traditions that bond alumni, students, staff, faculty, and professors emeriti to the university. ii. Strategy: Celebrate and support diversity and inclusivity. iii. Strategy: Identify and increase opportunities to engage alumni and volunteers as valued advisers, mentors, volunteers, and interested constituents. iv. Strategy: Appreciate and value the different roles staff, students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty play on our campuses so that the institution as a whole can further benefit from their diverse skills, perspectives, and experiences. v. Strategy: Foster trust through mutually respectful dialogue between individuals, faculties, departments, administrative units, and campuses, and create opportunities to learn from each other’s cultural variations. vi. Strategy: Encourage and support institution-wide initiatives, services, and programs, such as arts and cultural activities, intramurals, student groups, volunteering, clubs, and centres, which bring students from all faculties into community with each other.
…and our story is built on the accomplishments and contributions of our people. 6. OBJECTIVE: Build and support an integrated, cross-institutional strategy to demonstrate and enhance the University of Alberta’s local, national, and international story, so that it is shared, understood, and valued by the full University of Alberta community and its many stakeholders. i. Strategy: Discover an institution-wide, comprehensive brand platform (reputation, identity, image, and component stories) around the core institutional narrative: its promise, its mission, and its impact. ii. Strategy: Engage and advocate strategically with all levels and orders of government and other key stakeholders, and identify and demonstrate how university activities intersect with their goals and strategies. iii. Strategy: Communicate, using both quantitative and qualitative evidence, how the University of Alberta serves as a cornerstone of the community bringing widespread economic and societal benefits to all Albertans, as well as to national and international partners and stakeholders.
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10 Stories told by University of Alberta alumni often share a common thematic arc. That arc tells of students being inspired by exceptional professors to pursue excellence, stretch themselves in new ways, and take on the responsibilities of public service and leadership. Undergraduate and graduate students, along with professional, continuing, and lifelong learners, continue to pursue transformative learning experiences that reveal and nurture their talents and prepare them for success. They seek an education that is rich with experiential learning, interdisciplinary depth, research opportunities, and engagement with business, government, and community organizations. At the University of Alberta, we strive to answer learners’ intellectual and professional aspirations. Arts and science programs form the foundation of the university’s broad network of professional faculties and continuing education opportunities. Our multi-campus environment offers students the benefits of an intimate liberal arts education at Augustana Campus or an immersive francophone education at Campus Saint-Jean, while being connected to one of Canada’s most highly respected research universities. This diversity of opportunity, combined with our international, multicultural, and Indigenous populations of students, faculty, and staff, builds global citizens—leaders with the imagination, critical eye, and passion to rethink the status quo, diversify economies, and reinvigorate society.
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EXPERIENCE GOAL: Experience diverse and rewarding learning opportunities that inspire us, nurture our talents, expand our knowledge and skills, and enable our success. Pushing beyond the conventional, students, no matter their background, age, or stage of education, will experience learning as an integral part of all their activities at the University of Alberta. We will pay attention to the development of the whole person and will excel in providing learning environments that transform us, nurture our talents, expand our knowledge and skills, and enable our success. We will build innovative curricular and co-curricular experiential learning programs that engage students, faculty, and staff with issues, questions, and ideas relevant to community organizations, industry, and governments today. We will seek and sustain student success. We will mobilize the expertise of our faculty and expand access to educational experiences for continuing, professional, and lifelong learners.
By providing our students with exceptional experiences that link them to their futures, we will facilitate their success both within the curriculum… 7. OBJECTIVE: Increase graduate and undergraduate students’ access to and participation in a broad range of curricular experiential learning opportunities that are well-integrated with program goals and enrich their academic experience. i. Strategy: Increase students’ experiential learning through mutually beneficial engagement with community, industry, professional, and government organizations locally, nationally, and internationally. ii. Strategy: Develop global competency in our graduates through access to short- and long-term outbound international experiences. iii. Strategy: Expand professional development opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
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…and beyond. 8. OBJECTIVE: Create and facilitate co-curricular and extracurricular learning experiences for undergraduate and graduate students that enable their self-discovery and give them the skills to use their talents, creativity, and curiosity to contribute as future citizens and leaders. i. Strategy: Increase the opportunities for all undergraduate and graduate students to experience the benefits of living on campus, including guaranteeing the offer of a place in residence to every first-year undergraduate student. ii. Strategy: Expand and encourage student mentorship programs. iii. Strategy: Support the roles of the Graduate Students’ Association and Students’ Union, along with other student groups, in the promotion of extracurricular programs that create a sense of community and support the learning environment. iv. Strategy: Expand access to leadership development programs for undergraduate and graduate students, such as the Peter Lougheed Leadership College. v. Strategy: Continue to support and enhance a student-athlete-centred university sport environment that facilitates the academic, athletic, and personal development of students.
Our multi-campus learning environment provides exciting opportunities to build a great and diverse university… 9. OBJECTIVE: Enhance, support, and mobilize the unique experiences and cultures of all University of Alberta campuses to the benefit of the university as a whole. i. Strategy: Facilitate and deepen inter-campus connections, communication, and collaborations with Augustana Campus, and ensure that it is strengthened as a leading a liberal arts college, and as a living laboratory for teaching and learning innovation, to the benefit of the entire university. ii. Strategy: Highlight and strengthen the role that Campus Saint-Jean plays in reflecting and reinforcing the linguistic duality of Canada as well as the worldwide multi-ethnic Francophonie, by positioning the university locally, nationally, and internationally as a destination of choice for francophone and bilingual students, and by progressively improving Faculté Saint-Jean students’ and applicants’ access to French-language services. iii. Strategy: Enhance collaborative, community-based learning activities and build on the relationships that have been developed through the programs offered at Enterprise Square and South Campus.
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…opening doors to a lifetime of learning experiences. 10. OBJECTIVE: Expand access to and engagement in the University of Alberta for learners engaging in continuing and professional education programs, experiences, and lifelong learning activities. i. Strategy: Develop continuing and professional education programs that connect the knowledge-mobilization activities of the university’s faculty members to the needs of diverse learner communities. ii. Strategy: Create a wide range of opportunities, both in person and virtual, for broad, learning-centred programs for alumni and other communities of learners engaging in continuing and professional education.
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At the University of Alberta, excellence is both a goal and an attitude. We aspire to achieve the first and to inspire the latter. Motivated to excel, University of Alberta students, faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and staff have received many academic awards and distinctions over the history of the university, including 71 Rhodes Scholarships, 15 Banting Post-doctoral Fellowships, 41 3M National Teaching Fellowships, and three Governor General Awards for Literature. Many in our community are members of the Order of Canada (60), fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (138), members of the Alberta Order of Excellence (20), and winners of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (11)—honours that recognize not only outstanding research achievement, but also exceptional service and contribution to society. Researchers across the university consistently attract more than $450 million in external research funding each year. When we excel as researchers, we create knowledge that translates into social, technical, and artistic innovations, new enterprises and community organizations, life-saving medical treatments and procedures, critically needed environmental protections, and more. When we excel as researchers, teachers, and students, we empower a culture that values curiosity, critical thinking, diversity, hard work, and ambition—all vital to advancing knowledge and inciting change for the public good. When we excel on the global stage, we connect Alberta and Canada to the world.
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EXCEL GOAL: Excel as individuals, and together, sustain a culture that fosters and champions distinction and distinctiveness in teaching, learning, research, and service. To excel and achieve our full potential as an institution and as individuals, the University of Alberta will sustain a learning and research culture that inspires, supports, and champions high professional standards and outstanding achievements in basic and applied research and scholarship, creative activity, administration, and governance. We will ensure that learning experiences at our university are of the highest quality, based on a practice of continuous improvement and innovation in teaching. From our broad-based strength as a comprehensive, research-intensive public university, we will highlight current and emerging areas of global distinction and leadership by building a portfolio of signature areas that distinguish us from among our peer institutions and exemplify the University of Alberta’s capacity to engage in big questions and global challenges.
The foundation of our university is our breadth of inquiry… 11. OBJECTIVE: Advance the University of Alberta’s reputation for research excellence by pursuing fundamental and original questions and ideas, pushing the frontiers of knowledge, inspiring creative experimentation, driving innovation, and advancing society. i. Strategy: Encourage and champion achievements in a broad base of fundamental and applied research, scholarship, and creative activities. ii. Strategy: Support a culture of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship among students, faculty, and staff where contributions to all sectors of society are rewarded, valued, and celebrated. iii. Strategy: Nurture, enable, and reward public intellectuals. iv. Strategy: Support and enhance translational initiatives that include TEC Edmonton and eHub, among others. v. Strategy: Advance the University of Alberta’s reputation for excellence in research through a coordinated recognition, awards, and honours program.
…from which we will build areas of distinction.
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12. OBJECTIVE: Build a portfolio of signature research and teaching areas where the University of Alberta is or will be recognized as a global leader. i. Strategy: Identify and support established and emerging areas of research and teaching distinction and distinctiveness, using the following criteria: • national and international stature for excellence, relevance, and impact • critical mass—opportunity for broad, interdisciplinary engagement • grassroots leadership, participation, and support from within our university community • stakeholder partnerships • research partners (international, community, government, industry) • capacity to shape and align with federal and provincial research funding priorities • student demand • physical and operational capacity • geographic or situational relevance ii. Strategy: Leverage provincial, national, and international funding programs and partnership opportunities that support the activities, impact, influence, and reach of signature areas. iii. Strategy: Encourage and facilitate knowledge and technology transfer to ensure that society can realize the benefits of intellectual capital arising from research and creative endeavours. iv. Strategy: Develop processes for identifying both emerging and declining areas of distinction and global leadership to sustain the vibrancy of the university’s portfolio of signature areas.
Within a supportive, creative culture, we will foster excellence in research… 13. OBJECTIVE: Enable University of Alberta researchers to succeed and excel. i. Strategy: Expand services and supports for researchers at all career stages (undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty), including the development of research mentorships and Grant Assist programs. ii. Strategy: Maintain and pursue partnerships across the global academy to expand research and funding opportunities for our researchers and thus increase their capacity for success. iii. Strategy: Pursue strategies to increase the success of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in national grant, scholarship, and award programs. iv. Strategy: Secure and sustain funding for the continuous evolution and operation of research facilities and resources (e.g., libraries, labs, Research Services Office, museums and collections, performance spaces, fine arts facilities, and U of A Press) to meet the changing needs of our broad-based research community.
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v. Strategy: Participate fully in matching programs and maintain and pursue memberships in relevant funding organizations to expand and leverage funding opportunities for the university and to increase our researchers’ reach, influence, and impact. vi. Strategy: Seek and attract an exceptional cohort of post-doctoral fellows and support their participation in and contribution to the university’s research environment.
…and teaching… 14. OBJECTIVE: Inspire, model, and support excellence in teaching and learning. i. Strategy: Foster, encourage, and support innovation and experimentation in curriculum development, teaching, and learning at the individual, unit, and institutional levels. ii. Strategy: Adopt a set of core graduate attributes, skills, and competencies at both the undergraduate and graduate level; develop strategies for implementing them in specific disciplines and programs; and monitor graduate outcomes to ensure continuous improvement. iii. Strategy: Provide robust supports, tools, and training to develop and assess teaching quality, using qualitative and quantitative criteria that are fair, equitable, and meaningful across disciplines. iv. Strategy: Create and support an institutional strategy that enables excellence in the design, deployment, and assessment of digital learning technologies. v. Strategy: Develop and implement programs and processes to assure high quality, collegial graduate student and post-doctoral fellow supervision and mentorship.
…through professional development. 15. OBJECTIVE: Foster a culture of excellence by enriching learning and professional development opportunities for staff, faculty, and post-doctoral fellows. i. Strategy: Expand access to professional development programs and learning opportunities for staff, faculty, and post-doctoral fellows. ii. Strategy: Establish mentorship programs at the institutional, faculty, and unit levels to nurture and support staff, faculty, and post-doctoral fellows throughout their professional careers. iii. Strategy: Support continued development of and participation in leadership programs for staff, faculty, and post-doctoral fellows.
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18 From the earliest years when professors and staff travelled to rural communities to lecture on Shakespeare, agricultural practices, and more, the University of Alberta has been deeply embedded in communities both near and far. In 1908, founding president Henry Marshall Tory reminded Albertans that “the modern state university has sprung from a demand on the part of the people themselves” and promised “that knowledge shall not alone be the concern of scholars. The uplifting of the whole people shall be its final goal.” He challenged future generations not to forget this ultimate goal. It has not been forgotten. We continue to seek mutually beneficial, reciprocal connections and collaborations with partners throughout the global academy, as well as with local, rural, and Indigenous communities. We work with industry, business, and government to find solutions to shared problems. We engage with diverse partners to conduct and translate learning and research into evidence-based public policy, improved industrial practices, changed attitudes, and healthier, more compassionate communities. We sit at the centre of the province’s Campus Alberta and Edmonton’s City of Learners, working with our postsecondary partners to provide Albertans with multiple integrated pathways to achieve their educational goals and aspirations. We build multi-level, cross-sectoral national and international partnerships with high-ranking universities and institutions across Canada and the world. Through these efforts and more, we reaffirm Tory’s founding promise, and continue to grow as an university that endeavours to create and disseminate knowledge and scholarship for the benefit and uplifting of the whole people.
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ENGAGE GOAL: Engage communities across our campuses, city and region, province, nation, and the world to create reciprocal, mutually beneficial learning experiences, research projects, partnerships, and collaborations. To serve the public well, the University of Alberta will excel at listening, connecting, and collaborating with key partners across all sectors of society. We will strive to be relevant as well as excellent and actively disseminate what we learn and discover for the benefit of the public good. We will engage across disciplines, campuses, faculties, and units to create interdisciplinary learning experiences for our students that prepare them to face the complex nature of today’s challenges and workplaces. We will continue to build and deepen mutually beneficial and reciprocal partnerships with local, provincial, national, and international communities, agencies, industries, businesses, and organizations. In doing so, we will expand and sustain the University of Alberta’s leadership in major national and international initiatives and networks that increase our reach and influence as one of Canada’s leading research universities.
Our ability to contribute to society will flow in large measure from our ability to connect with our communities… 16. OBJECTIVE: Enhance, increase, and sustain reciprocal, mutually beneficial community relations, community engagement, and community-engaged research and scholarship that will extend the reach, effectiveness, benefit, and value of our university-community connections. i. Strategy: Identify and embrace opportunities to build, strengthen, and extend the University of Alberta’s connections to and engagement with external stakeholders, including the general public, neighbouring communities, ethnic and cultural communities, and other communities of practice. ii. Strategy: Develop an integrated institutional strategy for fostering and rewarding community-engaged research and evaluation that is intentionally collaborative from research question design through to knowledge mobilization. iii. Strategy: Engage with government, community, industry, business, and the post-secondary sector to address shared local, provincial, national, and global challenges. iv. Strategy: Continue to build mutually beneficial, authentic relationships with alumni and donors. v. Strategy: Welcome increased community access, participation, and engagement at all University of Alberta sites, such as our downtown campus at Enterprise Square and our sports facilities at South Campus.
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…and to build interdisciplinary connections… 17. OBJECTIVE: Facilitate, build, and support interdisciplinary, cross-faculty, and crossunit engagement and collaboration. i. Strategy: Identify and remove systemic barriers to interdisciplinarity, and where necessary, expand or create policies, resources, infrastructure, and strategies to encourage and reward academic and administrative partnerships and collaborations. ii. Strategy: Incent the development of interdisciplinary and cross-faculty graduate and undergraduate teaching and learning initiatives, including programs, courses, and embedded certificates. iii. Strategy: Develop mechanisms for identifying research expertise at the institution for more effective cultivation of emerging research opportunities and funding programs, particularly those requiring interdisciplinary research teams.
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…that support institutional partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally. 18. OBJECTIVE: Seek, build, strengthen, and sustain partnerships with local, national, or international research agencies, governments, government ministries and agencies, universities, Indigenous communities, libraries, not-for-profits, industry, business, and community organizations. i. Strategy: Provide leadership in Alberta’s post-secondary sector and support integration, collaboration, and partnership across the province’s six-sector model to the benefit of all Albertans. ii. Strategy: Participate and provide leadership in municipal, provincial, national, and international consortia, networks, and programs. iii. Strategy: Encourage municipal, provincial, national, and international collaborations, partnerships, and MOUs at the institutional, faculty, department, unit, and individual levels. iv. Strategy: Seek, enhance, and support partnerships with industry, including small and medium enterprises. v. Strategy: Work closely with key provincial partners and government agencies, including members of Campus Alberta, Alberta Health Services, Alberta Innovates, The Alberta Library, NEOS, etc., to undertake mutually beneficial research, and where possible, co-ordinate, streamline, and deliver shared systems, services, and processes to the benefit of all Albertans.
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As a proud public university, the University of Alberta not only serves the people of our province and our country, but also receives their steadfast support. We earn that support and trust because of the quality of our work and the benefits we bring to all Albertans and Canadians as a leading global institution founded on more than a century of excellence in teaching, learning, research, and service. We maintain that support and trust because we take seriously our responsibility to steward and sustain public investments in our people, operations, infrastructure, and systems. One of Canada’s Greenest Employers since 2009, we strive to model sustainability as an integral part of university life, recognizing that the health and well-being of our people are tied to the health and well-being of our environment, economy, and social systems. The University of Alberta is a recognized leader in environmental sustainability and energy management in practice as well as in teaching and research. We promote a culture of continuous improvement in administration and governance, and ensure that our resources are used and sustained effectively to ensure the long-term vibrancy of our institution. We do this to the benefit of Campus Alberta as a whole: we share critical research infrastructure, provide systems and services to smaller institutions, facilitate student mobility, and build partnerships across the province to ensure that all Albertans have access to their provincial university and the benefits we offer.
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SUSTAIN GOAL: Sustain our people, our work, and the environment by attracting and stewarding the resources we need to deliver excellence to the benefit of all Albertans. To achieve our strategic goals, the University of Alberta will attract and steward the resources we need to excel and deliver our core teaching and research mission at the high standard expected by all Albertans. We will build on our capacities for securing new sources of operating, capital, research, and philanthropic funding. We will continue to model and advance teaching and learning in the area of environmental sustainability on our campuses and in our work. We must sustain our people by promoting health, wellness, and safety as a defining feature of the University of Alberta’s learning and working experience, and by maintaining and enhancing the university’s essential teaching, learning, and research infrastructure. Continuous improvement and cross-unit engagement and co-operation will define our approach to governance and administration to ensure that our systems, policies, and procedures facilitate the achievement of our shared goals.
Our success as an institution will be determined by our support for our people… 19. OBJECTIVE: Prioritize and sustain student, faculty, and staff health, wellness, and safety by delivering proactive, relevant, responsive, and accessible services and initiatives. i. Strategy: Develop an integrated, institution-wide health and wellness strategy, which increases the reach and effectiveness of existing health and wellness resources, programs, and services, and promotes resilience and work-life balance. ii. Strategy: Bolster resources for and increase access to mental health programs that provide support to students, faculty, and staff. iii. Strategy: Endorse a strong culture of safety awareness, knowledge, planning, and practice to ensure the safety of students, employees, and visitors to our campuses.
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…and our commitment to sustainability. 20. OBJECTIVE: Continue to build and support an integrated approach to social, economic, and environmental sustainability that incorporates teaching and learning, research, outreach, capacity building, and the operations that support them. i. Strategy: Integrate sustainability into teaching, learning, research, and outreach in ways that foster critical, interdisciplinary, long-term systemic thinking on sustainability. ii. Strategy: Embed social, economic, and environmental sustainability into the development and care of the university’s natural and built environments. iii. Strategy: Enhance awareness of, and engagement with, the university’s environmental sustainability features, practices, and resources across University of Alberta campuses and external communities.
Our commitment extends to administration and governance… 21. OBJECTIVE: Encourage continuous improvement in administrative, governance, planning and stewardship systems, procedures, and policies that enable students, faculty, staff, and the institution as a whole to achieve shared strategic goals. i. Strategy: Encourage transparency and improve communication across the university through clear consultation and decision-making processes, substantive and timely communication of information, and access to shared, reliable institutional data. ii. Strategy: Ensure that individual and institutional annual review processes align with and support key institutional strategic goals. iii. Strategy: Consolidate unit review and strategic planning processes, and where possible, align with accreditation processes, to ensure efficient assessment practices. iv. Strategy: Facilitate easy access to and use of university services and systems; reduce duplication and complexity; and encourage cross-institutional administrative and operational collaboration. v. Strategy: Develop a set of equitable, meaningful, and relevant measures to monitor our progress toward strategic goals and develop the tools required to report on them.
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…financial resources…. 22. OBJECTIVE: Secure and steward financial resources to sustain, enhance, promote, and facilitate the university’s core mission and strategic goals. i. Strategy: Seek and secure resources needed to achieve and support our strategic goals. ii. Strategy: Ensure a sustainable budget model to preserve and enhance our core mission and reputation for excellence in teaching, learning, research, and community engagement. iii. Strategy: Ensure responsible and accountable stewardship of the university’s resources and demonstrate to government, donors, alumni, and community members the efficient and careful use of public and donor funds.
…and infrastructure. 23. OBJECTIVE: Ensure that the University of Alberta’s campuses, facilities, utility, and information technology infrastructure can continue to meet the needs and strategic goals of the university. i. Strategy: Secure and sustain funding to plan, operate, expand, renew, and optimize the use of campus infrastructure to meet evolving teaching and research priorities. ii. Strategy: Build, operate, and maintain undergraduate and graduate student housing to support our students’ academic success and sense of belonging to the university community. iii. Strategy: Provide effective IT solutions and enhancements that enable secure and reliable delivery of highquality programs and services. iv. Strategy: Engage and strategically partner with stakeholders to explore and develop joint-use projects.
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The University of Alberta, one of this province’s oldest public institutions, anchors Alberta’s integrated, diverse postsecondary education sector. We stand among Canada’s premier research-intensive, medical-doctoral universities. Our international ranking confirms our placement with the finest public universities in the world. As our mission states, the University of Alberta gives a national and international voice to innovation in our province, taking a lead role in placing Canada at the global forefront. Leadership, we know, requires action and purpose. Leadership demands that we build on our existing foundational strengths; experience and disseminate the power of transformative ideas and opportunities; excel in all that we do; engage across disciplines, communities, and sectors; and sustain the vibrancy of our multi-campus communities. As a community, we have developed a long-term, multi-layered plan. Some of the goals, objectives and strategies envisioned here can be implemented immediately; others will unfold over the course of the next decade. We will regularly measure our progress and anticipate the need for an in-depth review in year five. At the highest level, “For the Public Good” is meant to empower and enable each member of the University of Alberta to build, experience, excel, engage, and sustain. The successful implementation of the plan will depend on all of us, individually and collectively, taking action. Together, we will propel this great institution—the University of Alberta—to a place of unprecedented leadership, and in common cause, we will build a better province, a better Canada, and a better world.
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INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE David Turpin (Co-Chair) Steven Dew (Co-Chair) Lorne Babiuk (Vice-Chair) Tim Caulfield Walter Dixon Joseph Doucet Leanne Garon Lars Hallstrom Tammy Hopper Jacqueline Leighton Mackenzie Martin Mary Persson Fahim Rahman Ann Revill Jeremy Richards Christie Schultz Arya Sharma Kisha Supernant Kimberly TallBear Jane Traynor Helen Vallianatos Sheena Wilson Project leads: Anne Bailey Amy Dambrowitz Project support: Bobbi Schiestel
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UAB.CA/STRATEGIC-PLAN |
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INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN - MAY 2016
